College football is still assessing how Curt Cignetti led Indiana to the national championship. No five-star talent, no huge NIL budget to rely on, and the Hoosiers’ head coach still outplayed the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, and Oregon. And while coaching played a major role, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian also noted the “unconventional” method that helped Indiana.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Sarkisian told Greg McElroy on ESPN College Football when asked whether the powerhouses will play each other in non-conference matchups in the future. “And again, there are a lot of ways to find the path to make it.

“Curt Cignetti did an amazing job in Indiana; like what he’s done in the last two years, there’s not a guy in our profession that can’t say, ‘what an unbelievable job!’ And the way he did it has been somewhat unconventional with the six-year seniors, the transfers, the veteran group, the way they practice all those things.

“But one thing in there: he adjusted their schedule, too. And so, they’ve got a fresh team. They’re playing a lot of players early in the year; they’re a happy team. So, everybody wants to adopt the Indiana way, but then, not adopt all of the Indiana way. But other people now are starting to follow suit. To coach Cignetti’s credit, everybody wants to impact our sport in some way, shape, or form in a positive way. He’s impacting people. Because people now are starting to adjust their non-conference schedules, because they’re seeing the value of another win as opposed to the value of the strength of your schedule.”

Just last year, before the start of the regular season, Sarkisian had admitted the impossibility of any program winning the national championship unbeaten. However, Cignetti did it in just his second season with the Hoosiers. In his two seasons with the program, he is 27-2, a testament to the great work he is doing at Bloomington. But it’s not the first time that Indiana’s non-conference schedule has been a subject of discussion.

In Cignetti’s first year at Indiana, Paul Finebaum constantly downplayed his success due to the lack of ranked matchups on Indiana’s schedule. In their non-conference games, Indiana has shown a greater priority for Group of Five, mid-major, and FCS opponents to secure seven home games and increase its chances of making the College Football Playoff.

In 2025, the program had Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, and Indiana State—which suffered a 73-0 blowout—as its non-conference opponents. Per The Herald Times, the program has no Power-Four-caliber non-conference opponent until 2030.

On the other hand, Texas played Ohio State in Week 1 last year. As per McElroy, such games should have no ‘downside’ risk. However, the reality was different for the Longhorns.

If they had scheduled an easier non-conference matchup and won it, Texas would have finished 10-2. That would have guaranteed a playoff spot.

And it’s not Sarkisian who is thinking along those lines. In adapting to the ACC’s move to a nine-game conference schedule, Virginia Tech has dropped several big matchups over the next few years. Notably, they canceled their home game against James Madison in 2026 and are now left with VMI Keydets, Old Dominion, and Maryland as their non-conference opponents. That’s the exact recipe James Franklin followed at Penn State.

Programs like the Oklahoma Sooners, Texas Tech, and Georgia Bulldogs have also joined the moving train, making necessary adjustments to their non-conference schedule over the coming seasons. Sarkisian and Texas, though they are honoring their home-and-home series with Ohio State and Michigan, are also considering reevaluating their future non-conference matchups beyond the next two years, per KXAN.

Having said that, Indiana’s success can’t be reduced to its smart recruiting or easier schedule. Penn State had a similar schedule, and they even started 3-0 last season. Similarly, even the likes of Oregon play a relatively easier schedule compared to a team like Michigan.

Curt Cignetti lauded for another winning strategy

Beyond his adjustment of Indiana’s non-conference games, another strategy Cignetti was commended for in his championship-winning season was his ability to spot hidden talents and maximize their potential. Rather than spend excessively on recruiting blue-chip talents, Cignetti focused on athletes who had spent a few years in CFB but remained under the radar. This process worked and delivered results, as an Indiana fan highlighted.

“…there’s going to be obviously some teams like Indiana who take advantage of the fact that the big inefficiency in the marketplace right now is overlooked players who have two, three, four years of development that they can bring in and plug in immediately,” co-host of CrimsonCast, a popular podcast on Indiana athletics, Galen Clavio said.

However, Cignetti’s model runs the risk of being exposed to too many college programs. Soon, other teams are likely to get into the space where Indiana likes to find its talent. At the same time, the Hoosiers’ budget is being stretched as they try to maintain their championship-winning roster.